Grok 3 Mini vs Gemma 3 27B

Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026

Grok 3 Mini

xAI

Cost-effective xAI model for high-volume tasks. Good balance of capability and affordability.

Input$0.300/M
Output$0.500/M
Context128K tokens
Best ForHigh-volume tasks, simple coding, cost-sensitive projects
Benchmark50/100

Gemma 3 27B

Google

Google's open-weight 27B model. Budget-friendly with strong coding capability and Google's research backing.

Input$0.100/M
Output$0.400/M
Context128K tokens
Best ForSelf-hosted deployments, budget coding, research

Cost Comparison by Scenario

Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.

ScenarioGrok 3 MiniGemma 3 27BSavings
Small Script (1K lines) $0.03 $0.02 Gemma 3 27B saves $0.01 (39%)
Medium Feature (10K lines) $0.21 $0.12 Gemma 3 27B saves $0.09 (44%)
Large Project (50K lines) $1.02 $0.58 Gemma 3 27B saves $0.45 (44%)
Code Review (5K lines) $0.07 $0.03 Gemma 3 27B saves $0.04 (58%)

Verdict

Gemma 3 27B wins on both price and performance — $0.100/M input with a benchmark score of N/A/100.

For most developers, this is the clear choice between these two models.

Compare with Other Models